As The World Focuses On Texas, Floods Ravage Makurdi In Nigeria, 100, 000 Displaced

Floods have buried homes, washed off cars and displaced more than a hundred thousand people in the Nigerian city of Markurdi in Benue State, and President Muhammadu Buhari ordered an energency response on Thursday.

The floods affected people in 12 local government areas in the state, the President estimated in a statement, at the same time the attention of the world was with Texans.

Mr. Buhari directed the Nigerian National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to immediately mobilize personnel and resources to assist those battered by days of high rainwater.

Mr. Buhari said he was closely monitoring the situation and would be receiving regular updates on the scale of the disaster, and the government’s humanitarian response.

Pictures posted on the social media showed submerged vehicles and stranded residents struggling to get help.

With the attention of the world focused on Texas where many have died and thousands have been displaced by days of unprecedented rainfall, some Nigerians expressed anger on Thursday that they were being abandoned to die alone.

“The silence of the Nigerian press on the destruction by flood in Makurdi is deafening. Yesterday night was another five hours of nonstop rain in Benue,” a Facebook post that went viral said.

“More homes are affected, more people are without shelter and humanitarian need is growing by the day.